The Dark Child's friend
by drawingdisaster
Summary: A drabble about Annie and the unlikely friendship she develops with another champion. I don't want to spoil things, rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

"You are useless. "

Her mother's voice echoes in the room, dark tendrils of magic lashing at her young body tearing her flesh. Annie is crying.

"Daddy!"

The man in the shadows watches in silence, hate obvious in his eyes. Annie can feel her powers waking up, her burned fingertips starting to heat, slowly stripping the skin from her bones.

"We left Noxus because of you and you can't even summon a lesser demon! "

The tendrils slash at her face, her tears mixing with her blood, she can feel her magic swirling wildly around her palms, the finest of smokes rising in the air.

Her mother attacks again, inky black flames of malice barely missing her, the room is on fire, her father sneers.

"Kill her "

Then he leaves, not even sparing her a glance. Annie can't even feel her hands anymore, her nerves are overflowing with magical energy, a blinding inferno of raw magical power is swelling inside her chest. Her mother aims her wand at her, right between the eyes. Annie raises her hands on reflex trying to shield her face.

Time seems to stop, she can smell the ash in the air, see the madness in her mother's gaze, the emerald flames licking the walls, the death spell being unleashed rushing to meet her, rushing to end her life, she screams.

She stops restraining her magic for a moment, her attention diverted by the green lighting heading for her face. Her hands glow brighter, her fingertips are hurting, the room explodes.

Annie wakes up crying, her small body drenched in sweat, Tibbers' empty eyes staring back into her own shiny green ones. She grabs his hand and jumps out of the bed, not even bothering to wear her slippers. The feeling of the cold floor on her soles is a pleasant distraction from her night terror.

She opens the door and runs outside, her footsteps echoing on the empty corridors, their walls housing countless kings and monsters from all over Valoran.

She has no family, no friends, no one will bother searching for her in case she disappears, Katarina says that a lot and Annie believes her. Everyone fears and despises her, her own city state has put a bounty on her head so it must be true.

She stops in front of a simple door in the neutral champion section. Annie pauses for a moment taking the time to wipe away her tears, Noxians ought to be strong even when they are alone in a dark scary hallway filled with shadows, but there is nothing that she can do about her puffy eyes however.

She raises her hand to knock. She knocks once on the door then twice, the thought of spending the night alone makes her knock a third time. She takes a deep breath waiting in eerie silence, it is past midnight but she has nowhere else to go. The door opens slightly, a crimson eyes observes her for a moment before the door finally opens completely.

They are both silent, Riven's face is blank, an empty mask carved from stone. Annie just stares at her fiddling with her pyjamas. The warrior waits patiently, unmoving.

"I had a scawy dream, can I please sleep here? "

Riven stands still, her hard stare locked on the nervous toddler as if she is about to refuse but then she steps aside letting the child enter the room. She always does.

 **So I found this little drabble among the Angel of Piltover chapters and decided to post it. Riven would make a good parental figure for Annie being the only good Noxian and since she wouldn't befriend Annie to make use of her powers.**

 **Annie could help Riven overcome her sadness after the Ionian invasion, maybe even become her adopted child raised together with her partner (I vote for Irelia) and that would help the characters evolve. Feel free to use the plot to write your own story, I have a similar Annie word prompt which I will post as the second chapter being similar and all I don't want to post a new story for only 600 words.**


	2. Chapter 2

Love.

She loved Tibbers and Tibbers loved her back.

Family.

She didn't need a family, she had Tibbers and adults were mean.

Fighting.

She didn't mind fighting on the Fields, she could burn the baddies all she wanted but Fiddlesticks was scary.

Mummy.

Amumu seemed so sad all the time, crying until his tears flooded the room, he looked a lot happier when Annie finally accepted to play with him.

Special.

She had met the sad lady on the Fields of Justice, the warrior didn't seem to fear her like most of the other grownups.

Truth.

She was at the big garden after nightfall, Amumu had said nighty night a while ago and now she had been lost inside the maze. She saw the sad lady and asked her for directions, but adults are liars so she had walked in the opposite direction from what she had been instructed to avoid being tricked. She finally stopped walking a few minutes ago staring at the heart of the maze. Riven had told her the truth.

Friend.

She had asked Riven to be her friend after that, she had even brought her a nice flower, everyone laughed at her and mocked her but Riven had nodded her head.

Sad.

Morgana always gave her delicious cookies every time she visited, she wondered if Riven would stop being sad if she gave her one.

Hug.

She liked hugging the white haired lady and sometimes Riven hugged her back.

Cook.

Riven was a terrible cook, but she tried really hard to make tasty food for her after they started living together, Annie had advised her to add more sugar. Riven had nodded dully starring embarrassingly at the remains of her charred vegetables.

Rest.

She liked sleeping in Riven's bed, the warrior had looked uncomfortable at first but she had gotten used to it after a while. Annie had stopped pretending she had nightmares after that.

Mean.

Nunu was always mean to her, she tried setting him on fire once but Riven had jumped in between the child and the flames.

Shame.

The feeling overwhelmed her every time she laid eyes on Riven's burns and tried not to cry, Riven always laughed it off patting her head or pulling her into a hug.

Evil.

The Noxians were evil, why else would they cause so much pain to the swordswoman? Did that mean that Riven was adopted?

Fire.

The nature of her powers it raged inside her chest, destroying everything in sight always hungering for more.

Promise.

Annie had told her that she wanted to hurt the people calling her a traitor, Riven had made her promise not to.

Sincere.

Everyone avoided looking her in the eyes, they tried acting nice to her, but Annie could see the fear in their eyes. Riven was the only one capable of holding her gaze.

Regret.

She had asked Riven to read her a story before going to sleep, the warrior had told her that she couldn't read and Annie had called her a dummy. Riven had looked sad.

Genius.

Annie had a plan to make Riven happy again, she had borrowed a few of Amumu's picture books and ordered Tibbers to bring her the big headed yordle, she asked the professor to help Riven study and he had agreed because Tibbers had started munching on his head. Riven didn't scold her like she had expected her to, but her face was really red that night.

Story.

Riven had read her a fairytale the other night, her voice was funny and it took her so long to reach the ending that Annie had almost fallen asleep but Riven had tried really hard so Annie patted her head.

Tibbers.

Riven wasn't just her friend anymore, she was Tibbers.


End file.
